Double crown helped police nab lingerie thief

BENGALURU: The man who entered the hostel of Maharani’s Arts, Commerce and Management College for Women on the sly and fled with the students’ innerwear has been arrested.
High Grounds police said the double crown they noticed while scrutinizing CCTV images helped them zero in on Abu Taleem alias Abu Saleem, 37. Two whorls on the head or double crowns are a rarity, making identification easier.Cops were also sure he stayed near the hostel as he would enter the premises nude. Taleem works at the race course, which is near the hostel on Seshadri Road.
Father of two high school going children, Taleem was wearing a woman’s underwear when he was picked up. Police also recovered 37 bras, underwears and petticoats from him.
Taleem, who is from Kishanganj in Bihar, lives on the race course campus. His family is in Bihar. He came to Bengaluru in 2012 and worked as a ‘horse caretaker’. He told police he had the habit of wearing his wife’s innerwear at home in Bihar. “Taleem told us that he was caught while stealing the innerwear of a neighbour in Kishanganj sometime in 2010. Women cops spoke to his wife, who confirmed his habit,” a senior police officer said. He also stole innerwear from rooftops of houses in Gandhinagar, Chickpet and Sampangiramanagar.
Taleem allegedly frequented the hostel at regular intervals over the past six months. He was spotted by a guard in February but managed to escape. A complaint was lodged by the hostel officials earlier this week.
The 35-year-old lived adjacent to the college; he would scale the boundary wall and use this fence to get in
“We knew the accused lived close to the hostel. It did not take much time to identify him. His colleagues also told us he had a fetish for women’s innerwear,” police said.
Before entering the college hostel, Taleem would remove all his clothes and leave them outside the compound. After leaving the hostel, he would put on his clothes and flee.